


Follow-Up Care

by kageygirl



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-14
Updated: 2011-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-18 02:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kageygirl/pseuds/kageygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was close, but Will narrowly avoided having his ass kicked for the <i>third</i> time that day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow-Up Care

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for "Hero II: Broken Arrow."

If a sound could be said to be pointed, it was the rattle-click-thump of a plastic pill bottle hitting hardwood. Will pulled the damp washcloth away from his forehead gingerly, trying not to mess with the abrasion along his left temple, and looked up.

Magnus was standing next to his coffee table, head cocked and arms folded as she looked down at him, lying on his office sofa. Backlit as she was by the lights from the hallway, he couldn't see her expression. He squinted at the bottle she'd just set down--white, not translucent orange. Over-the-counter, then. Acetaminophen, most likely.

"For someone who hates to be hovered over, you loom pretty well," he said lightly, refolding the washcloth to find a cooler spot, and then easing it back down, high enough to leave his eyes uncovered. Not that he could see much in his darkened office--which was kind of the point--but deliberately covering his eyes while she was standing there would have been on the "dismissive and rude" side. Bad enough that he was making no move to stand up, but, well.

"I would say you should be in bed, but I'm fairly certain that where I actually left you was in the infirmary."

"Which was a little crowded, thanks to Kate." He turned his head a fraction to see her better, and got a twinge all the way from his shoulder to the base of his skull. "Seriously, Magnus, my neck is already sore."

She stayed where she was for a moment longer, unmoved and unmoving, and then sank down to perch on the edge of the sofa, next to his hip. He tried to shift to give her a little more room, but every abused muscle in his body objected at once, and he froze, hissing in pain.

"You've made my point admirably," she said, but her voice was gentle. Will concentrated on breathing evenly and easing everything back down without aggravating anything further, and only realized he'd taken hold of her wrist when she covered his hand with her own, keeping it there.

"Sorry," he said, when the aches had subsided to a dull roar. He tried to smile at her, though it probably came out more like a grimace. "You know what they say about doctors making the worst patients."

"It's because we rail against any medical advice but our own." His eyes were adjusting to the half-light, and he could just make out her playful frown as she leaned in over him. "Even when we should know better."

"I do know that there's nothing wrong with me that being in the infirmary will help." She let him take his hand back without comment. "And that you'd be coming along to do a neuro check before too long."

He took the washcloth off again, and she produced a penlight, flicking it into one eye, then the other. While he blinked away the lingering afterimage, she asked, with some amusement, "And so you thought you'd wait in your office to spare me the disgrace of visiting you in your bedroom at night, unchaperoned?"

Will blinked again, this time at being caught flat-footed. "See, when you put it that way, it just sounds silly and Victorian." He drew out the last word in an imitation of her accent, and she laughed softly.

But, being Magnus, she was undeterred. She caught his gaze and said, "I'll make you a deal. I won't make you go back to the infirmary, _if_ you go and rest in your own room."

"And those?" he asked, glancing at the pill bottle. There was no chance that ignoring it would make her forget, so he didn't even try.

"Not negotiable."

Even in semidarkness, he knew that look too well. "All right, just give me a minute."

He began the agonizing process of getting himself into a sitting position. Magnus watched him carefully but not unkindly, letting him move at his own pace, wincing in sympathy at his not-entirely-exaggerated groans. She stayed put next to him, keeping him from swinging his legs to the floor until he took the bottle from her.

He dry-swallowed two pills, choking down the bitterness and the gag reflex he'd never been able to shake, dimly registering the hand Magnus rested briefly on his upper arm before standing up to give him room.

When he finally made it to his feet--with about a thousand times less grace than Magnus had--she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned towards him, in a faint impression of a bow. "May I escort you to your room, Dr. Zimmerman?"

"That depends," he said, and let a little innuendo slide into his voice. "Are you making sure I get there safely, or offering to tuck me in?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Magnus raised her eyebrows and gave him her Mona Lisa smile. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

Will breathed out a laugh and grinned back, then followed her out into the hall.

He was insanely lucky to have gotten away without so much as a sprain, he knew that. But "could have been worse" didn't make the bruises and muscle strains ache any less, and by the time they reached his room, he had his teeth gritted, breathing hard through his nose.

While he leaned against the door jamb, too heavily and too carefully to be nonchalant, Magnus watched him. Most of her expression said compassionate-but-detached-physician, but her eyes gave her away. "I'll be by to check on you later," she said quietly, and touched his forearm, her hand a barely-there pressure through his sleeve.

"Oh, I'm--really not going anywhere at this point," he said, and didn't even try to hide the pain he was in. "Unless I manage to fall out of bed or something, just to cap off the day."

"I'd prefer that you didn't," she said, with a real smile. "As someone pointed out, the infirmary is rather crowded at the moment." She stepped in close, close enough that Will's injuries became a very secondary concern, and settled her hand delicately on his shoulder. "Do try to stop getting knocked unconscious. Twice in one day is more than enough," she murmured, and leaned in slowly, pressing a warm kiss to his unmarked temple.

Then she turned and walked away, leaving Will to stare at her back in surprise. "You do know that isn't really a deterrent, right?" he asked, but his voice came out a little gravelly, and he wasn't at all sure if she heard him before she disappeared around the corner.


End file.
